Aboriginal History

ABORIGINAL HISTORY
Student Name:
Student ID:
Course Title:
Course Code:
Course Instructor:
Section:
Institution:
Word count:
Date:
Introduction
This paper discusses a primary document to analyze the content, context and significance of the document from the book Aboriginal History: A Reader, edited by Kristin Burnett and Geoff Read and published by Oxford University Press in 2012. The main focus of this paper is aboriginal working women and in analyzing the facts based on the document, this paper evaluates the historical background during the time stated in the document as well as make critical analysis of the document.
Discussion
The primary document Indian Girls Achieve Successful Careers- Pave Way for Others, published in the Indian News on June 1958, is a very decisive document as it tells about the working state of female aborigines, and more importantly, it reflects the society’s acceptance and position towards the aboriginal women in the society; to be more specific, in the professional world. Although the article is not very voluminous and does not represents lots of arguments and examples, but it is very clear to understand why. First of all, the aborigines were not well accepted in the western society for a very long time and the document tells about a time when the aboriginal women were coming out and claiming education, counseling, recreation, housing and overall, better lifestyle. Another important aspect of this document is, it focuses on the Winnipeg where a large number of Indians were living during that time and how Winnipeg attracted Indian workers.
Traditionally, in the aboriginal families, women used to do most of the farming and household works. They used to work around the house while men worked physical tasks and in the field. However, the situation changed with the arrival of the Europeans. This made huge changes in the labor market. The economic status before the arrival of the European was better in North America. Upon the arrival of the European, a very large portion of single women, who were either unmarried or whose husbands were disabled or dead, started work for wage. On the other hand, most of the married were engaged in household works; although, the growing number of working women did not help much to uplift the standards of lifestyle for their families. The situation has not changed much yet as by the year of 2008, there were 10% Canadian families who were living below the poverty line.
The most important thing about this document is that, it tells about the state of aboriginal women workers around 1960s. This is very important as we can compare the situation with current status. The examples mentioned in the document are not high profiled; however, it is clear that this was the beginning. One of the major targets of this article was to motivate aboriginal women into working. From the very beginning, Manitoba was a popular choice among the aborigines for living. Also, this was one of the first places where women from the aboriginal society went out for day jobs.
The works of women does not reflect specifically the money based economy; however, there are few groups of females that have difficulty fitting into the market where money is the only parameter to recognize the economic activities and aboriginal women are on the front line in this category as they faced economic discrimination from the beginning not only on the basis of gender but also on basis of race and culture.
The document is not analytical or does not give much information on the topic. Instead, it just gave few examples of successful aboriginal young women who were working in homes and offices. Comparing with the literacy works and cultural conditions of that time, it is clear that the document was not intended for any literary purpose; instead it was introduced to inspire young females in the aboriginal community to work for pay; especially the females from Winnipeg. It showed how aboriginal women can get a moderate work with some basic skill to develop a better living condition.
The first example that the document presented was on Miss Rose Bear who was working as a switchboard operator at a wholesale house. Another aboriginal girl, Mrs. Gordon KacKay, worked at a beauty salon as a hair dresser. She did hair dressing course at the Manitoba Technical Institute. Two teenagers named Frances McCorrister and Ruthd Le Tandre were studying stenography to get better jobs. They were from Hodgson and Fairford respectively; but was living in Manitoba and studying in Manitoba Technical Institute. Lorna Kirkness, another student of the Manitoba Technical Institute, was working as a steno typist in the office of the Manitoba Sanatorium Board. Jean Cuthland, a registered nurse of 29 years and a young aborigine were very successful as she was appointed as the head nurse of the La Range nursing station.
This information is important from another point of view and that is, it partially states the academic condition of the aboriginal women in Winnipeg. It suggested that learning practical skills is an important step towards getting a middle level employment. At the end, the writer presented some ...